Category : Church of Nigeria

God’s words are powerful words. They are never empty. At the beginning of creation ‘God said, “Let there be light” and there was light’ (Genesis 1:3) and when God’s word is proclaimed faithfully today there is new creation. It was this conviction that drew us to Jerusalem in 2008 and our Jerusalem Statement and Declaration began by affirming that we had gathered as ‘a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it’.

We cannot truly promote the gospel if we are not also careful to preserve it from distortion or dilution and I therefore commend the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) for their recent document ‘Gospel, Church & Marriage: Preserving Apostolic Faith and Life’. At a time when the Church of England’s senior leadership seems unable to resist the pressure to compromise with a highly secular culture, it is a sign of hope that evangelical leaders are able to come together in this way.

They affirm that biblical and apostolic teaching on marriage and sexuality is not a secondary matter over which we can agree to disagree, but is essential to the integrity of the Church’s witness and to Christian discipleship. As the New Testament shows, ‘the apostles had to guard the Church’s distinctive boundaries on matters of both doctrine and ethics, including sexual morality’.

“In a globalised world, Gafcon’s vision is to see the full potential of our Communion realised as faithful Anglicans from every nation, race and culture unite in a clear, confident and joyful witness to Jesus Christ who makes all things new.”https://t.co/tsGwUGYNGG

The House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria has criticised the country’s government for failing to act against Fulani herdsmen who have carried out a series of fatal attacks. The anti-persecution charity International Christian Concern says that 80 people in Benue state have been killed in attacks by Fulani militants this year. At the heart of the conflict is the challenge to the herdsmen’s nomadic way of life caused by expansion of established farms and villages. According to the Global Observatory, farmer-herder violence in the country has killed thousands of people and displaced tens of thousands more since the current state of Nigeria was founded in 1999.

In a communiqué issued after a meeting of the House of Bishops, the Church of Nigeria expressed sympathy with the families of those killed and injured in attacks by Fulani herdsmen, and went on to say that: “The bishops observed that as a result of the continuous inaction of the Government, people are beginning to suspect that there is complicity of the Federal Government in these despicable acts. We therefore call on the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency to address these ugly trends and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.”

They continued: “However, the bishops strongly believe that the permanent solution to the killings by herdsmen lies in the establishment of ranches in line with world best practices and not grazing colonies. Besides, the young herdsmen deserve a better opportunity for education and advancement in life. The bishops believe that it is unkind to design a life of perpetual wandering for these class of youth.”

The Anglican Church of Nigeria has charged the federal government to re-examine some of institutions and structures put in place to fight corruption with a view to strengthening the institutions and ensuring that corruption is reduced in the country. The church expressed dismay that despite attempts by some past and present leaders to uproot corruption, the fight against corruption has not been successful in the land.

Speaking at the second session of the third synod of the Anglican Diocese of Omu-Aran , Kwara State , the Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Church, Rt. Reverend Philip Adeyemo, said it was saddening to state that rather than abating, corruption has continued to spread. In his paper with the theme: “A curse is not without cause”, Adeyemo blamed the situation on greed, selfishness, wickedness and partiality among the leaders .

Anglicanism claims to be an expression of Reformed Catholic Christianity, but the Canterbury [Partial] Primates Meeting held earlier this month shows once again that the Anglican Communion is in urgent need of a new reformation. I and a number of brother Primates (representing between us over half of practising Anglicans worldwide) did not attend as a matter of conscience. We cannot ‘walk together’ with those who have abandoned the teaching of the Bible, but that is what the Communiqué issued from the meeting encourages us to do. The painful truth is that the authority of Scripture is being replaced by the authority of Canterbury.

There is no mention in the Communiqué of Lambeth Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference where the vast majority of the Communion’s bishops reaffirmed the Bible’s teaching on marriage and sexuality, including the clear statement that homosexual practice is contrary to Scripture.

Same-sex ‘marriage’ is referred to merely as a difference of understanding while the only call to repentance is to those who have crossed provincial boundaries to support orthodox brothers and sisters unchurched by leaders who have rejected God’s Word.

The Conference also affirmed the LGBTI community and their lifestyle, while unequivocally disowning the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), an orthodox Anglican Province.

Archbishop Ntagali, the Primate of Uganda and Vice-Chairman of Gafcon has said, ‘if we are not walking in the same direction, how can we walk together?’

In no way can these leaders, with the Archbishop of Rwanda, be said to be ‘walking together.’ They have chosen to witness to the truth by their absence.

The presence of the Primates from Canada and the United States and the absence of Archbishop Foley Beach whose Church is recognised by Anglicans around the world, is a further testimony to a Communion in which the leaders are not walking together.

Several of the other primates who are attending the meeting are equally concerned about the divisions over the authority of scripture within the Communion, but intend to remain in defence of the Gospel. The Primates are not walking together. At best, they say, “they are walking at a distance.” At worst, they are walking in different directions.

Surely public statements need to reflect reality rather than mere wishfulness.

According to [Bishop Festus Davies]… the Church today had abandoned its first love, as it now emphasises prosperity preaching over and above the salvation message. “The challenge the Church is facing today is that the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries stood for the undiluted word of God, but the present generation is diluting the word of God to the extent that everybody is now preaching what he/she likes. “Everybody preaches what suits him/her and not what Christ stood for. Healing and prosperity in the Bible are good but that cannot be our major emphasis. Once they get the gospel right, there is healing, deliverance, and breakthrough…but Christ first and all other material things will be added to you and not the other way round.” Continuing, he asked: “How can you talk about healing when Christ has not been preached; where do you get the healing from? Until we go back to the old time religion we will not get ourselves right,” he maintained. The bishop noted that the Church has lost its respect in the society, because preachers now preach to please politicians for what they would gain from them.

Dr Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) on Saturday appealed to Nigerians to avoid hate speech.‎ Okoh made the call in Kano when he led some members of his church to visit Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje at the Government House.

The clergyman, who described the trend in recent times as alarming,‎ urged Nigerians to work assiduously to control hate speech.‎ “Hate speech has serious consequences on our country as it promotes violence, extremism and conflicts. “Most of the adherents of these two religions don’t have the real understanding of the teaching‎s of their religions; that is why we having problem with hate speeches,” he said. Okoh called on Nigerians to preach love, tolerance and understanding in order to move the country forward.‎

The Bishop of Owo Diocese, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Rt. Revd. James Oladunjoye, has admonished President Muhammadu Buhari to vacate his office for someone else if his health is continuously failing him.

Speaking at the second session of the Twelfth Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Owo, on Friday, the Bishop also berated the Presidency for refusing to disclose Buhari’s health status.

Born on August 20, 1946 at Igbemo-Ekiti, Ven Akinwande had his primary and secondary education in what is today known as Ekiti State. The next phase of his life took him to Lagos in 1968 but this was briefly interrupted by the necessity to prepare himself for a profession, which took him to Ibadan. After brief stints with the Federal Department of Agriculture, Moore Plantation, Ibadan; Federal Plant Quarantine Service of the Lagos Airport, Ikeja, the Nigerian Cocoa Industries Limited, Ikeja, he gained admission, by direct entry, on the scholarship of the Western Nigeria Government to the Ibadan campus of the University of Ife to study pharmacy which had, since 1962, begun under the auspices of the Ibadan branch of the old Nigerian College of Arts, Science & Technology (now defunct).
Graduating with a degree in pharmacy, awarded by the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1972, Ven Akinwande worked as a hospital pharmacist with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Ikeja, Falemi Pharmacy (1974/75), J.H. Morrison Jones & Sons Limited (1975/80) and SmithKline Beecham Corporation (1980/1990), before quitting to set up (in partnership with his wife Mrs Rachel Akinwande Pharmaceuticals (Nigeria) Limited.
However, in years later, he resigned from the partnership to devote his time and life to full time ministry of the Church of God. During the previous four years, he had secured admission to the Lagos Diocesan Board of Continuing Education for the Clergy (BOCEC), for training to become a priest.